What's the guidelines with temps theses days?....Really annoyed with Nurse!!

[Zephyrcat]

Hi - When I did my Childcare nvq's about 10 years ago and worked in Nursery schools, the general guidelines with temperature were that general illness could be around 101/102 degrees. If a child's temperature went up to 104 they were in very real danger of convulsions and had to be stripped and wiped with a tepid flannel to get temp down asap.

I took ds to our local health centre/walk in plkace on Saturday after he'd suddenly gotten worse from a cold and had a temp of 102. After an hour and a half wait I had to strip him as he was boiling up. I got into see the nurse who decided that he had tonsillitis but that his temp was 'very high' at 40.3 - I only know temps in F not C but I worked that out in my head to be about 102 still so wasn't that worried.

She gave him nurofen then paracetamol and said she would get the doc to make up some anti-biotics.

She put us in another room - told me to dress him but put a fan on. I put his jeans on but left him otherwise undressed and stood him right in front of the fan. It took ages for him to cool down.

2 hours later the doc saw him.

When I got home I looked up the temp 40.3 and realised that he was just over 104 - so surely she should have done a lot more to cool him down as quickly as possible?? I'm sure now that I remembered hearing a little while ag othat they had raised the danger temperature from 104 - is that right?

UNLESS there is a history of febrile convulsions the following applies:
A raised temperature is a normal and natural response to infection, guidelines now are that you treat the uncomfortable symptoms of a temp so give paracetamol and ibuprofen for the discomfort the side effect of it is of course antipyretic.
A childs temp should be brought down gradually and definitely not quickly and depending on the age of the child, there is no panic about it at all.
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear but i think that the treatement you recieved (while a bit slow) was appropriate.

Have i pissed you off? SORRY

Personally i never check ds's temp as it just tells me what i already know...that he has got a temp, and my treatment wouldnt alter.
Strip him off, paracetamol/brufen. Although there is evidence out there that there is no therapeutic consequence to giving both. One or the other will do.
The advice is not to tepid sponge as this just makes them shiver which (in the older child) which increases temp in its self. Plus it reduces the temp too quickly.
A fan just serves to reduce peripheral temperatures and the real temperature is core therefor not of benefit but is comforting to have cool air blown on them.
Hope this explains a bit more hun.
Is your ds better on the A/B?

Just seen your post - course you haven't pissed me off

It was purely because we were taught that although temps were a perfectly normal part of being ill, if it reached 104 it could bring on a convulsion - even if there wasn't a history and that to cool them down we had to use tepid water (never cold because, like you say, you mustn't cool them quickly) and re-do the temp every 5 minutes.

He's not any better with the ab's yet and still has a temp of 102 but it's early days yet, poor little thing!!!

I remember that when ds1 was sent to A&E because of a mystery illness he had a very high temp. The staff wouldn't let him be transferred to the children's ward until his temp dropped. The usual paracetomol/ibuprofen had very little effect and he was in a side-room in A&E for approx 10 hours. He was stripped down to his pants and the electric fan was switched on but no-one mentioned anything about sponging him down. No idea whether or not this is a national policy though.

nhsdirect sent us to the emergency doctor when DD has a fever of nearly 41C for hours and we couldn't get it down. he said that even up until 42C it would be ok. now, i always heard that 42C was really dangerous.

I took my ds(10 months) to the drs with this problem on Friday and he too has tonsillitis. His temperature was 40.5 and his eyes were rolling back. The doctor said he had to be cooled down immediately. He told me to take him home (in the car) in just his vest. All the other people in the drs looked at me like a piece of shit when I carried him outside in a vest in November but after a 5 minute journey home he was like a different child. Bringing his temperature down quickly made a world of difference to him. With reference to your queries about temps, the dr told me that any temp over 39 leaves a child at risk of convulsions and you should always seek urgent medical attention.

How is he now AbbyLou? Today is the first day that ds hasn't had a temp since SAturday! I didn't realise tonsillitis could be so fierce!